NCAA CONSTANTLY MONITORING RULES CHANGES

Chief medical officer says tweaking rules has been beneficial for safety of players

Home in on a defenseless opposing player and make contact above the shoulders?

You’re ejected.

That’s just the latest in a series of rules changes that the NCAA has made in recent years to try to safeguard against brain injuries in football.

Tweaking with the rules has worked well for the NCAA over the last few seasons, said neurologist Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s newly appointed chief medical officer.

“We changed the kickoff rule last year, and when you analyze injuries, there was a 50 percent reduction of concussions just from that,” Hainline said. “Just by putting the kickoff 5 yards closer (on the 35-yard line) and having touchbacks go 5 yards closer the other way, to the 25 rather than the 20-yard line.”

The NCAA is also pleased with the results of a rule that requires players who lose their helmets to sit out the next play — Hainline said the incidence of helmets popping off decreased dramatically.

“So you look at the rules, try to set behavior and hope you have an impact,” Hainline said.

Hainline is the NCAA’s first chief medical officer. He was hired in January to head the NCAA’s new Sports Science Institute, and his presence itself would seem to indicate that the governing body of college sports is intensifying its efforts to keep student-athletes safe.

“I think we’re leading the way in being proactive in concussion management and researching the prevalence of concussion,” said David Klossner, the NCAA’s director of health and safety.

Still, rules changes and new appointments aside, how effective are the NCAA’s current concussion management policies?

The NCAA has a set of concussion management guidelines in its sports medicine handbook, and it also requires each of its member institutions to maintain a concussion management plan.

“If schools don’t have a plan in place, it’s an institutional violation. In the plan, we have minimum standards,” Klossner said. “Athletes who show signs and symptoms (of concussion) have to be removed from play. Athletes cannot return to play that day unless a team physician clears them.”

But what happens if a school violates its own concussion management plan?

What happens if a player goes down on a hard hit, shows what appears to be symptoms of concussion, but is allowed to return to the game anyway?

The NCAA has traditionally taken the stance that it’s not its responsibility to enforce each school’s concussion management plan.

“Each individual institution is responsible for their health care and how it’s handled,” Klossner said. “We as a national office aren’t looking at those from the sideline or on TV. That’s best handled by the university. If they believe something was inappropriate, it’s up to the school to handle it.”

But is that enough?

Hainline concedes that the NCAA might have to examine the possibility of broadening its enforcement scope to include issues such as concussion management.

“That’s a whole new area. Enforcement has always been about amateurism issues,” Hainline said. “So one of the discussions going forward with regard to health and safety matters is ‘How do you legislate that?’ From an enforcement point of view.

“That’s an active discussion. I don’t know what the answer is at this point.”